Is all the hype warranted


I've been seeing alot of glowing reviews of Decware amps over the last couple days. Particularly their Zen Torii and ZMA amps.  Andrew Robinson, Steve Gutenburg, Harley Longrove and Jay are all gushing about Decware.  For those tube guys out there, is Decware that good? Is the hype warranted?

sandrodg73

...probably not, but loud noises tend to draw attentions.....which are, thankfully short...;)

That's kinda what I thought, but after talking to them it seems that they have had a consistent 2yr wait for some time.  Not just hype evidently.  

@ghasley - my comment related to the OP's specific situation re the possibility of using an SET in a room that's over 400 ft sq. However, SET amplifiers in general exhibit relatively high levels of harmonic distortion once output rises above a handful of watts.

I've seen some emphatic owners perhaps overhype them, but I don't believe they are any more hype than any other company.  Then again if they purposely leave their lead-times at 2 years to maintain hype, that is a bit different from most manufacturers. 

I had an older Taboo and thought it sounded very nice.  4 WPC did very well with 96 dB speakers though it would have needed gain help from a proper pre to get really loud in my main system (with digital volume control).  Sounded nice enough that I started going down a SET / low watt tube amp rabbit hole.  I would have kept it, but too many amps.  I chose it to sell it because I thought it would be the easiest to sell, and it sold in a day.  New owner was very happy.  I'm not sure about the lucid mode.  Didn't experiment with that enough.  Some love it.  Switch could have been wired to nothing for all I know.   

Personally I wouldn't buy anything new unless simply nothing comparable used, but especially not at a 2 year wait. If that doesn't bother you, you could probably sell right away if you don't like it.  I guess if I try to combine some of the logic here on judging the best amp by availability,  the best one would be one that is not available new or used.  I've only heard a Raven in someone else's system paired with some entry-ish level Sonus Faber speakers,  and it sounded excellent. 

I have 3 tube components in my system. A Jolida Fusion 6802 integrated, MHDT Orchid DAC and a Decware ZD3 phono stage. I have no other experience with tube gear. I like them all but they are also significantly better than anything else I’ve had.

The Decware phono stage is very well made and made a huge improvement on sound over my previous inexpensive solid state phono stage and it should have. My current vinyl setup is a VPI Scout turntable with an Ortofon 2m LVB Black cartridge. So with my limited experience with tube gear the Decware is very nice. I’m happy with what I have for the money spent. If I upgrade my analog system and go mc cartridge I will look elsewhere for a phono stage. I hope this helps someone who is at my level in the hobby.